Linguistics experts are searching for folk from Norwich who took part in a seminal study in 1968, to learn about how their accents have changed since childhood.
The original survey of Norwich English (1971) by Professor Peter Trudgill is widely recognised as the UK’s first major study of urban British English that systematically related linguistic variation and change to social factors such as class and gender.
Now, researchers led by the University of Leeds are revisiting the project to see how accents and dialects in Norwich have changed. They hope to re-record as many original participants as possible, focusing mainly on those who took part in the study as children in 1968 at the City of Norwich School. If you, or someone you know, took part, please visit the EAST (East Anglian Speech Tracking) Project website and fill in the ‘I took part’ form.
Dr Kerri-Ann Butcher, a Lecturer in English Language in the University of Leeds School of English and Bye Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge, is leading the EAST Project. Dr Butcher, who is from East Anglia, said: “We’re hoping that the Norwich community will help us to track down some of the original participants from the City of Norwich School, as well as other parts of the community, in 1968. We know a lot of people might not remember being interviewed by Peter, but we have a list of names we can match up, so please get in touch if you think you may have been involved.
“Participants will be able to listen to a recording of their voice from 1968, and we will compare their accent and dialect from 1968 with how they sound today.
“East Anglia has played a special role in the development of the English language in different countries around the world that not many people are aware of. English, as we know it, was probably first spoken in East Anglia, researchers including Professor Trudgill have argued. East Anglians also migrated overseas at different points in history, taking their speech with them and helping to shape new varieties, such as American English.
“This research will not just apply to Norwich – what we learn can be applied to language change all over the world, as this will be the longest study on lifespan change in a group context so far, tracking up to 58 years of difference.”
Five generations of change
Funded by a New Investigator grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the researchers will also collect new samples from the present-day Norwich community for comparative ‘trend’ analysis with Professor Trudgill’s work, tracking community-level change across five generations.
The University of Leeds has a strong legacy of linguistics and dialect research. The Survey of English Dialects carried out in the 1950s and 60s saw researchers collect dialect recordings, notebooks, photographs and drawings from more than 300 English towns. This project was revisited by Professor Fiona Douglas in the School of English with the Great Big Dialect Hunt in 2022, which brought the research up to date with a UK-wide survey that received more than 10,000 responses.
Professor Peter Trudgill, Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia and Emeritus Professor at University of Fribourg, is the author of the original work and is being consulted closely on the new study. Professor Trudgill said: “I am really thrilled that the work I began so many decades ago is to be continued from the University of Leeds, which was involved in my research from the very beginning.
“In the late 1960s I was invited to Leeds, to meet the members of the Survey of English Dialects team and, crucially, to examine the notebooks of the fieldworkers. The records made by Stanley Ellis were especially brilliant, and I still consult them from time to time. Thank you, Leeds!”
The key questions the researchers are looking to answer are:
- How have original participants’ language changed over the time span of 58 years? Are there changes to how they pronounce vowels, and other linguistic features?
- To what extent can an individual change their accent or dialect over their lifespan?
- Why and how are linguistic changes accepted, modified, or rejected within communities?
- Which social and linguistic factors accelerate or decelerate linguistic change?
- How does Norwich fit into the bigger picture of changes to regional culture, identity, and linguistic diversity in post-industrial Britain?
The fieldwork in Norwich commences in August 2026. To participate, visit the EAST Project website and fill in the relevant form.
Further information
For media enquiries, please contact Mia Saunders in the University of Leeds press office by emailing m.saunders@leeds.ac.uk.
Top image credit: Adobe Stock.